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Gombe Streams National Park
Gombe Streams National Park is Tanzania's smallest park. It covers just 52 sq km (20 sq miles). It was made famous by Jane Goodall in nineteen sixty when she came to the park to study its chimpanzees. Her study revealed that chimpanzees share about 98% of their genes with humans. Of the original chimpanzee community only the matriarch, Fifi, remains. Other inhabitants of this park include olive baboons, the red-tailed Colobus money and the red Colobus monkey. Two hundred odd species of birds are recorded in this park.
This is park not a game drive destination! From Kigoma, local lake taxis take up to three hours to reach Gombe National Park or we can charter motorboats for our clients which take less than one hour. The park can be reached from Mbeya on rough primitive dirt roads however this means of transportation is not advised under the best of weather conditions.
Clients can track chimpanzee’s which don’t roam far in the rainy seasons from February through June and November through mid December, however due to harsh weather conditions it is advisable to visit this park during the dry seasons of July through October or in late December. Clients can swim, snorkel, and visit the site of Henry Stanley's famous “Dr Livingstone I presume” at Ujiji near Kigoma during their safari
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Katavi Plains National Park
Katavi Plains National Park is Tanzania’s third largest park covering 4,471 sq km (1,727 sq miles) of isolated wilderness. This park is as primitive as it was a century ago. It is there that the Rift Valley terminates in the shallow expanse of Lake Rukwa. The bulk of Katavi Plains National Park is entrenched in brachystegia woodlands which are home to the eland, sable and roan antelopes.
The Katuma River, its floodplains, and the rainy seasonal lakes of Katavi and Chada support Tanzania’s densest concentrations of hippo and crocodile. During the dry season, when the floodwaters retreat the Katuma River is reduced to a shallow, muddy trickle and is the only source of drinking and wallowing water for the inhabitant of the this park. During the dry season the floodplains support dense concentrations of wildlife with an estimated 4,000 elephants, several herds of more than 1,000 buffalo, giraffe, zebra, impala, reedbuck, lion, and spotted hyena all converging onto the floodplain each dry season. Clients can often watch up to 200 hippos, all fight for their own territory, wallowing. flopping and fighting in bloody battles at the end of the dry season as the waters dry up to a trickle.
Roads within the park are flooded during the rainy season but may be passable from mid December and January. Katavi Plains National Park is a tough but spectacular day's drive from Mbeya some 550 km (340 mi) or in the dry season from May through October from Kigoma 390 km (240 mi) only.
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Kitulo Plateau National Park
Kitulo Plateau National Park covers 412.9 sq km (159 sq miles) in Southern Tanzania and hovers at around 2,600 meters (8,500 ft) between the rugged peaks of the Kipengere, Poroto and Livingstone Mountains. One of the most important watersheds for the Great Ruaha River the well watered volcanic soils of Kitulo National Park support the largest and most important montane grassland area in Tanzania. Kitulo National Park is home to more than 350 species of vascular plants, including 45 varieties of terrestrial orchids, which erupt with blossoms during the rainy season of late November to April.
Referred to by locals in Swahili as Bustani ya Mungu or the Garden of God it is often referred to by botanists as the Serengeti of Flowers because it is host to one of the great floral spectacles of the world. This park is renowned for its multitude of orchids and for its stunning yellow orange red hot poker, an array of aloes, proteas, geraniums, giant lobelias, lilies and aster daisies, of which more than 30 species are endemic only to southern Tanzania. Big game is sparsely represented in this park, though a few hardy mountain reedbuck and eland still roam the open grassland.
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Mahale Mountains National Park
Mahale Mountains National Park borders Lake Tanganyika and covers 1,613 sq km (623 sq mi). It is inaccessible by road. The Mahale Mountains tower 2 km from the shore to form a chain of wild jungle draped peaks which are home to roughly 800 of Africa’s last remaining wild chimpanzees who reside in the area known as the Nkungwe range. The Nkungwe range, held sacred by the Tongwe people, towers 2,460 meters (8,069 ft) and is the highest of the six prominent points that make up the Mahale Mountain Range.
The slopes of the Mahale Mountains support a diverse forest fauna. Its inhabitants include the red Colobus, red-tailed monkey and blue monkey. The variety of forest birds are to numerous to mention.
Clients can trace the Tongwe people's ancient pilgrimage to the mountain spirits, as they hiking through the montane rainforest belt, which is home to the endemic race of Angola Colobus monkeys. In the high grassy ridges clients may glimpse at the rare alpine bamboo. Clients will also find the world’s longest, second deepest and least polluted fresh water lake in this national park. The exquisitely clear waters harbor an estimated thousand species of fish.
Clients can track chimps, hike, snorkel, and fish for their own dinner. The dry season of May through October is best for forest walks and hiking. Clients will need to charter a private or park motorboat from Kigoma for their three to four hour water safari to the Mahale Mountain National Park.
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Rubondo Island
Rubondo Island which covers 240 sq km (93 sq mi) and nine other surrounding islands are all under park protection. The water surrounding the islands is a breeding ground for the world famous Nile perch and tilapia. Rubondo Island National Park is known for its sandy beaches. It supports a forest where tamarinds, wild palms and sycamores flourish. Wild jasmine and an array of more than 40 different species of orchids permeate the forest with intoxicating smells. Ninety percent of the park is covered in a humid forest.
This national park is a bird watchers paradise with some 400 species being recorded in the park. Along the lakeshore clients will discover the malachite kingfisher and paradise flycatcher. Across the entire island flocks of African grey parrots can be observed which were released onto the island after they were confiscated from illegal exporters. Herons, storks and spoonbills proliferate in the swampy lake fringes.
Indigenous mammals include the bushbuck, hippo, velvet monkey, genet, mongoose, chimpanzee, black and white Colobus monkey, elephant, giraffe, and the extremely elusive aquatic sitatunga antelope.
Clients can access Rubondo Island National Park, some 150 km (95 mi) west of Mwanza, either by chartered plane or by ground to Mwanza and then boat transfer. This park is. Wildflowers and butterflies abound from June through August during the dry season. Bird migration is at its peak from November through March and December through February during the rainy seasons. Because of the parks inaccessibility it is not well developed.
